


Necessity

by andmydog



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-14
Updated: 2009-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-04 10:44:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andmydog/pseuds/andmydog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Burial era. Sanzo summons Hakkai and Gojyo to the temple, but only Gojyo shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Necessity

Kao hurried down the corridor after the redheaded thug, robes flapping around his skinny legs in his rush to keep up. Curse the man, and his abnormally long stride! At least he was heading in the right direction - Kao shuddered to think what would happen if the unsavoury character in front of him decided to go for a walk through the temple grounds.

Everything about him was wrong. From his scarred face (surely the result of some petty brawl) to his flashy red hair (the sign of a punk, no question) to his split and freshly scabbed knuckles (proof of a violent disposition), all the way to his mud-caked boots that tracked filth into the pristine hallways of the holy inner temple (no respect for dignity and tradition!)... this man did not belong here. Why Sanzo-sama deigned to soil his hands with a creature like this, Kao would never understand.

But his was not to comprehend, he chastised himself. His was to obey, and learn from the experience. And learn quickly - the redhead was almost past the receiving hall doors! "Ah, it's this left here. The left!" he squawked, ashamed at how shrill his voice sounded. Curse the man twice for making him out of breath! The redhead paused, and glared over his shoulder at Kao in disgust. Kao shuddered again. This man was barely human.

"I know where I'm goin'," Red drawled, his accent so thick Kao could barely make sense of the words. "S'not the first time your boss's summoned me."

Such _impertinence!_

"You," he announced, pointing to a spot in the center of the floor with a dismissive flick of his wrist. "You wait here." Without waiting to see if the man would obey, Kao scurried out of the room and around to the far wall. The doorway here was smaller than the main entrance, but the hallway curved around in such a way that every sound from the receiving hall could be clearly heard, even if the listener remained hidden from sight.

And sure enough, not five minutes later he heard the sound of Sanzo-sama's unmistakable stride entering the hall, footsteps so loud they might have been right next to his ear.

"Where's Hakkai?" Sanzo-sama sounded annoyed. But then again, he always sounded annoyed. Kao had always thought that spiritual masters were calm, tranquil men, and he chuckled a little to himself at the thought of Sanzo-sama being anything near tranquil. Preconceptions clouded the mind, he reminded himself. You can't know a man until you've met him.

"He's not coming," the redhead replied, and Kao bristled. No apologies, no excuses... just _he's not coming?_ How rude! Well, he certainly knew _this_ man. Kao waited, breathless, for Sanzo-sama to give the order for this intruder to leave their sacred space. "What's the job?"

Still waiting.

"I sent for both of you."

"And you got me. You gonna tell me what you want, or what?"

"Quit wasting my time, asshole. Go get him."

"No."

Kao's heart stopped. Did he really...?

"Why not? Is he sick?"

That wasn't the cold reply he'd been expecting. That wasn't the dismissal he'd been waiting for, or even the raised voice and rage he'd been prepared for. Sanzo-sama sounded... concerned. Annoyed and superior, yes, but still concerned.

Who _was_ this man?

The redhead laughed, and the sound sent chills down Kao's spine. Whoever he was, he wasn't human. No man alive could make a sound like that, not at the thought of another's suffering. Didn't he have any compassion at all? Especially after Sanzo-sama had expressed such concern for his companion's wellbeing! "Yeah, something like that. But don't worry, your highness. It's not contagious.

"If it's not contagious then it's not important." Ah, such command, such authority! "Tell him to quit lazing about and to deal with his responsibilities."

"Responsibilities? He doesn't _have_ responsibilities, dumbass, he _is_ a responsibility. He's your fucking responsibility, remember? Draggin' him down here, claimin' him as your pet dirt rag?"

Several of the other brothers were crowded around the doorway now, drawn by the raised voices, and Red's words drew a collective gasp from the crowd. Kao flapped his hands at them for silence, straining to hear Sanzo-sama's reply, but it was drowned out by the redhead's indignant tirade.

"You're th'one who gets off on all this grand shit, and havin' conversations with folks on their fucking knees, _Sanzo-sama_," and oh, that sneer! That disrespectful, coarse _mockery_ of Sanzo-sama's holy title! "_You're_ th'one with the personal slave!"

"How _dare_ he!" hissed one of the acolytes, a burly young man whose name slipped Kao's mind completely. The older monk shot out a hand and seized the boy's arm, shaking his head furiously. This is a private meeting - it was not to be interrupted. Bad enough they were eavesdropping.

Red's voice was quieter when he spoke again, and Kao could only imagine the icy expression being leveled on him. Sanzo-sama was a man who did not hesitate to share his displeasure with the world, and this common criminal was finally learning what it meant to confront a holy man. Kao smiled a bit in pride at Sanzo-sama's authority. "You let him die once," Red muttered, the words barely audible out in the hall."I'm not gonna let you do it again."

"Only person dying today is you, asshole," growled Sanzo, and Kao had no doubt, admonitions against taking a life or no, that Sanzo-sama meant every word of it. Strangely enough, he couldn't find it in himself to care. He would have to address that issue, later.

"What, you gonna change my name an' pretend like I'm a whole new person too? Pretend like that'll do anything at all?" Again, the brothers whispered their rage at the disrespect being shown to their head monk, and again, Kao warned his brothers silent with a glare. If Sanzo-sama needed their assistance, he'd call for them. Sanzo-sama could take care of himself - this thug might be rude and crass and disgusting, but he wasn't a real danger.

At least, Kao prayed he wasn't.

"He's still Gonou in there." Red was still speaking. "He's Hakkai, but he's also Gonou, and you can't just wave your magic wand and make that go away."

"What business it is of--"

"Because he's my responsibility too!" he shouted. "Because he's my goddamn friend. Because you're th'one who claimed him, but I'm th'one trying to hold him together."

"By beating the shit out of him?"

Only the palm pressed tight against his mouth stopped Kao from gasping in shock.

"...When I have to. When he needs it."

The fool. The complete and utter_ fool_.

"He doesn't need you to--"

"He fucking well does!" shouted Red, and Kao winced at the echo. "He needs _something_, anyway, an' since he can't get drunk, fighting is pretty much th'only thing he's got left. What am I supposed t'do, tell him no? Let him go find a fight somewhere else? _You_ wanna clean up th'bodies from that?"

Kao didn't breathe. Nobody breathed. The entire temple waited, dead still, on edge for the impending explosion.

The explosion that never came.

"I need him able to work," Sanzo said at last. There was something different in his tone, Kao noted. Something... level. Something like an outstretched hand. "I don't care how you do it, but when I've got a job for the two of you, I want _both_ of you here."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck _you_."

"If you insist," Red leered - Kao could hear it in his voice - and again, the brothers gasped in shock. This time, their shock was broken by the scrape of Sanzo-sama's sole against the marble floor as he turned - their interruptions were no longer welcome, apparently. "I'll give that a try, let you know how it works out," continued Red, his voice a seductive purr.

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

"Get out of here before I shoot you," Sanzo spat in disgust, and Kao scrambled to his feet as Sanzo-sama's footsteps announced that the audience was over. The monks scattered, white robes flapping as they flew down the hallway, vanishing into side rooms and around corners like so much wind-blown trash. Only Kao remained, bowing low as Sanzo-sama approached. He'd shown the man in - it was only right he be there at the end.

"Shall I show your guest out, Sanzo-sama?" he asked, unable to keep the note of glee from his voice. Throwing the thug out of the temple would be the highlight of his day. After the way the bastard had treated the sanctity of the holy house, and Sanzo-sama's holy person, it would be a joy of a chore.

Sanzo didn't pause, didn't even glance over at Kao as he headed down the hall to his office. "He knows where he's going," he called back over his shoulder. "It's not the first time I've summoned him." Chastised, Kao dropped his head in a low bow.

Perhaps he needed some more work on his preconceptions.


End file.
